Water Use

In generating electricity, PPL uses a significant amount of water for cooling at its fossil-fuel and nuclear power plants. In Pennsylvania, the sources of that water are the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers.

PPL pays a fee to the respective river basin commissions in Pennsylvania for water drawn from the rivers that is lost to evaporation. The chart shows the amount of water lost to evaporation at PPL power plants in Pennsylvania.

PPL does not have data to report for consumptive water use at generating facilities in other states. In Montana, PPL uses water from the Yellowstone River for its Corette and Colstrip plants.

The Susquehanna, Montour and Martins Creek plants in Pennsylvania use natural draft cooling towers to minimize consumptive water use by recycling cooling water. The cooling towers also limit thermal discharges from these plants.

The Brunner Island plant uses a once-through process for cooling water. PPL reached a consent agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to install mechanical draft cooling towers at the Brunner Island plant by 2010 to reduce the temperature of water discharges at times of the year when reductions will have the greatest benefits for fish and aquatic life.

These cooling towers, with an estimated cost of $125 million, will be in service in 2010. As a result, we expect water consumptive use to increase.

 This page addresses the following GRI indicators: 2.18, 2.19, EN5, EN20 and EN21